


Promise

by nausicaa_of_phaeacia



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Hints at future possibilities, Post "Chosen", Post Season 07, Post Series, Post Sunnydale, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-29
Updated: 2013-12-29
Packaged: 2018-01-06 16:20:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1108958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nausicaa_of_phaeacia/pseuds/nausicaa_of_phaeacia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Again, this is one of those short fics where basically, nothing happens:<br/>Post Sunnydale, Buffy has to decide where to go. So does Giles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promise

**Author's Note:**

> Another idea I've just had. Written in one go, no regrets :) Hope you like it!  
> As always, I only own what came out of my own head.

All others have left for somewhere else: they're all going separate ways. Buffy has thought about this for days: for weeks, even. Retiring has always sounded like a far-away, utopian temptation, and now that it could become reality... it doesn't sound quite so fetching anymore. Slaying is what she's been doing almost all her life. And Dawn, she knows, is toying with the thought of becoming a Watcher one day. Her sister flourishes in research, and all things mystical and historical. So, after far too many days of indecisiveness, she puts an end to all in-betweens: she will travel to Ohio and guard another Hellmouth. Dawn starts cheering instantly, declaring that it sounds like a much better adventure than everything previous. Giles isn't cold, but reserved about it, even though he makes a point of expressing his approval. It's only two days later, one day before their departure, that she understands why he seems to be avoiding her: Giles, her Watcher, the one whom she lately has forgotten to be her friend, doesn't know what to do. Her decision seems to trouble him deeply, and now that she thinks about it, he hasn't made a choice yet. In the evening, she goes looking for him; she finds him in the tiny garden behind the dilapidated motel. Without asking, she joins him on the wooden bench of which the white lacquer has peeled off almost completely. They don't speak; then, after a small eternity, she simply says, "I can't lose you." It takes him a while to react, almost too long, but she knows it is because in his head, he is replaying their evening in the Magic Box after the Council's thoughtless threat. She is, too. Then, he turns towards her, his gaze drawing hers upon him. Suddenly, he smiles; she hasn't been expecting him to, and the small surprise does send little waves of fuzzy warmth through her stomach. She swallows; smiling back carefully, she knows that they've both just understood something that has been waiting for them for years, hidden by apocalypses and all kinds of external and internal demons. He takes her hand in his, and without them having exchanged a word, she knows that it is a promise, one that she suspects herself of having waited for all her life.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! :)  
> Tell me what you think! (It would definitely make my day!)


End file.
